Chapter 104: Bottleneck (Double Length Chapter)
Shinobi… truly were a fragile profession.
They wielded extraordinary power, yet their own defenses were pitifully weak.
Whether it was ninjutsu, a blade, or even a simple shuriken—any of them could take a shinobi's life.
This recent battle had given Taichi a harsh and unforgettable lesson.
In a straightforward fight, no matter what method Nagano Masaru used, he wouldn't even have been able to scratch Taichi.
But a single moment of carelessness—one successful ambush—and a short blade had nearly ended Taichi's life.
So the question was unavoidable:
How should he improve his own defense?
In the current shinobi world, the strongest defensive force was without question the Third Raikage. Whether it was his Lightning Release Chakra Armor or his body tempered to the absolute extreme, both granted him an almost unrivaled level of defense.
Legend had it that the Third Raikage could fight the Eight-Tails head-on using nothing but his physical body alone.
That alone spoke volumes about how terrifying his defense truly was.
Using the Third Raikage as a benchmark, Taichi began to form a clear plan for strengthening himself.
The first path was physical conditioning.
Taichi firmly believed that as his Advanced Taijutsu continued to level up—and as his body underwent constant tempering—his physical durability would naturally increase.
Besides, judging by how the system worked, Basic Taijutsu had already evolved into Advanced Taijutsu. Who was to say there wouldn't be something like Master-level Taijutsu in the future?
On this front, Taichi had absolute confidence—in both himself and the system.
The only downside was time.
This path required long-term accumulation. It offered no short-term solution.
The second path was ninjutsu.
In truth, the shinobi world possessed no shortage of techniques that enhanced defense. Even among the Five Elemental Releases, there were techniques such as Lightning Armor, Earth Release: Hardening, Steel Release: Steel Body, and Earth Release: Sand Garment.
And beyond those were even more terrifying powers—Susanoo, Tailed Beast Cloaks, Six Paths Mode…
But among them all, the technique Taichi admired most was Gaara's future Sand Armor.
On the surface, it appeared no different from an ordinary body. Yet its defensive power was strong enough to block Rock Lee's high-speed kicks after opening the Eight Gates.
That level of defense was more than sufficient to handle ordinary sneak attacks.
As for stronger assaults—those wouldn't be sneak attacks anymore. And Taichi wasn't afraid of facing an enemy head-on.
Looking at the long list of techniques he had compiled from memory, Taichi rubbed his temples.
The techniques he wanted existed—but he lacked their training methods.
After much deliberation, Taichi finally made his decision.
He would develop a defensive technique of his own.
With that in mind, he pulled out every ninjutsu scroll Tsunade had left him. All five elemental releases were represented within them.
After searching carefully, Taichi did find several techniques with similar effects—but none truly satisfied him.
Still, since he had already decided to create something new, these techniques would serve as references at best.
He picked up a scroll and began studying it in earnest, pen in hand, jotting down insights and inspirations as they arose.
---
At the same time, inside the Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his broad desk, wisps of smoke curling up from his pipe and partially obscuring his deep-set eyes. Standing nearby was Homura Mitokado, as both men listened to Koharu Utatane and Yamaguchi Masasuke's report.
When the briefing concluded, Koharu produced the scroll for 700 million ryō and placed it on the desk.
Hiruzen accepted it, exhaled a slow cloud of smoke, and lightly tapped the tabletop.
"Seven hundred million," he said quietly.
"That's nearly fifty percent more than expected. You all did very well."
"Indeed," Homura nodded with visible relief.
"This finally eases the village's financial strain. The recent purchases of war supplies nearly emptied our reserves."
"But the Daimyō's attitude…" Koharu frowned deeply.
"He didn't just test our shinobi with warriors—during the banquet, he sent officials to quietly probe and recruit genin. Especially Taichi. He repeatedly emphasized that the boy was an orphan, as if he thought we wouldn't notice."
"Oh?" Hiruzen straightened abruptly, his expression sharpening.
"So the Daimyō is no longer satisfied with the authority he holds?"
"The question," Koharu continued, "is whether he merely wants to expand his power—or if he's begun to question the One Nation, One Village system itself."
Homura snorted coldly.
"Since the First Hokage established that system, the Daimyō's court and Konoha have stayed out of each other's affairs. Now he's recruiting warriors in secret and coveting our shinobi. Is he planning to abandon Konoha?"
"It goes further," Yamaguchi added gravely.
"During the talks, the Daimyō asked about our manpower and suggested regularly stationing jōnin squads in the capital. I suspect he intends to use 'escort duty' as a pretext for infiltration and recruitment."
Silence settled over the office.
Outside the window, the rustling of leaves sounded unusually grating.
"Hiruzen," Koharu said in a low voice,
"give us a direction. If the Daimyō truly intends to move in this direction… what should the village do?"
The smoke from Hiruzen's pipe drifted upward, obscuring his face completely.
The answer—whatever it would be—would shape Konoha's future.
Hiruzen closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Unconsciously, Danzo's figure surfaced in his mind. If Danzo were here, he might actually be able to offer some useful suggestions. But when Hiruzen recalled the Root personnel list he had obtained not long ago—and the cold, shadowed look in Danzo's eye at the time—he dismissed the idea of consulting him again, at least for the foreseeable future.
After a long moment, Hiruzen opened his eyes, his tone grave.
"First, strengthen intelligence gathering. Have the ANBU keep a close watch on the Daimyō's court and observe whether they make any unusual moves. Without concrete evidence, there's nothing we can do right now."
"…"
"Hiruzen, what if we let Danzo—"
Homura Mitokado had barely begun speaking when Hiruzen cut him off without hesitation.
"That's enough, Homura. ANBU can handle this matter as well. Root's strength will be reserved for monitoring the other hidden villages."
The office fell into an even deeper silence.
No one spoke. No one quite understood why Hiruzen was reacting so sharply.
After a long pause, Yamaguchi Masasuke cautiously broke the silence.
"Then… what about Taichi and the others?"
"For now, they stay put," Hiruzen said, tapping the ash from his pipe.
"Since the Daimyō has taken an interest in Taichi, there will likely be further moves. When that happens, we might as well turn the situation to our advantage—let Taichi bring back more information."
"You mean—"
"Espionage."
---
Time passed quickly.
Just as Konoha's leadership had anticipated, the Daimyō soon sent an envoy, formally issuing a request for guard duty.
The numbers weren't excessive—just three jōnin squads.
It wasn't many, because it wouldn't affect Kyoto's overall defenses.
But it wasn't few either, because it was more than enough to protect the Daimyō.
For Konoha's already tense upper leadership, this was unmistakably provocative.
Yet there was no way around it.
The Daimyō's court had followed all proper procedures. The commission was legitimate, the paperwork complete. As the only ninja village in the Land of Fire, Konoha had no grounds to refuse.
Otherwise, who would issue commissions to Konoha in the future?
Take the easy missions, reject the hard ones—would the Daimyō's funding still come? If other villages learned of it, they'd only mock Konoha for being too weak to even accept missions from its own country.
In the end, the Hokage could only assign his most trusted subordinates, explain the underlying risks clearly, and send them to carry out the escort mission.
Still, Hiruzen knew this in his heart:
There was no such thing as guarding against a thief forever. Given enough time, someone would eventually succumb to temptation and accept the Daimyō's offer.
It seems I'll have to let Danzo handle this after all…
This sort of thing is exactly his specialty.
---
Unaware of the political maneuvering above him, Taichi was currently hunched over his desk, writing furiously.
Draft papers littered the entire study, discarded pages scattered across the floor like fallen leaves.
For the past few days, Taichi had been like this constantly. If he hadn't at least remembered to use shadow clones to keep training, he might have truly gone mad.
Even so, his eyes were bloodshot, his hair a complete mess, and his clothes stained with ink and food crumbs.
Developing a new ninjutsu was no simple matter.
The Water Release: Raging Water Dance, Chakra Sensory Technique, and Monster Strength Shunshin he had created before—all of them had been born from flashes of inspiration, completed gradually after stumbling upon the initial idea.
But this time?
Nothing.
His mind was completely blank.
He couldn't even figure out where to start.
Just how was Senju Tobirama's brain built?
Konoha's A-rank and S-rank forbidden techniques were practically all developed by him alone.
And Minato—just developing the Rasengan had taken him three full years.
Compared to that, Taichi's earlier successes were nothing short of absurdly lucky.
Just as Taichi was spiraling deeper into frustration—
Knock, knock.
The sudden sound startled him.
He froze, confused as to who would come looking for him at this hour.
The moment he opened the door, blinding sunlight flooded his vision. Taichi instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes—too long spent in darkness had left them unprepared.
"Taichi! How long have you been locked up in here? What happened to you?!"
Yōhei's shocked voice rang out, followed by Saori's sharp intake of breath.
As Taichi's vision adjusted, he finally saw the two standing outside.
"Yōhei… Saori? Why are you here?"
"Don't tell me you've gone stupid from staying inside too long," Yōhei stared at him as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Do you even remember what day it is today?"
Taichi let them inside, muttering to himself, "What day is it…"
His foggy brain creaked like rusted gears, refusing to turn.
"Today's the day we agreed to train together," Saori reminded him gently.
"We waited for you at the training ground for a long time. When you didn't show up, we got worried and came to check on you."
"Ah—damn it!" Taichi slapped his forehead, guilt flooding his face.
"I completely forgot. I'm really sorry."
"So… what exactly have you been doing in here?" Yōhei asked, pointing at the sea of draft papers. "Why is this place such a disaster?"
The moment Taichi followed his gaze, the little energy he had regained drained away again.
"…Ninjutsu development," he sighed, collapsing into a chair.
"No progress at all. I've been racking my brain nonstop. It's driving me crazy."
He roughly grabbed his already disastrous hair and explained everything—the defensive ninjutsu, the bottleneck, the frustration.
"…Wait, wait," Yōhei said incredulously.
"You mean you've spent all these days locked inside just thinking about this?"
Saori looked at him the same way—like he was some kind of alien.
Now it was Taichi's turn to be confused.
"What's wrong with that?"
Saori exchanged a glance with Yōhei before explaining.
"Taichi, I've never developed a ninjutsu myself, but my father once told me—it's a very long process. Almost no one decides to create a new technique today and finishes it tomorrow."
Her words struck Taichi like a thunderbolt.
That's right.
Tobirama spent his entire life developing techniques.
Minato spent three years on the Rasengan.
And yet Taichi—fully aware of all this—had still expected immediate results.
He'd been blinded by his earlier successes.
The realization washed over him, and suddenly his entire body felt lighter.
"Thank you," Taichi said sincerely.
"Both of you. If you hadn't come today, I don't know how much longer I'd have been stuck like this."
"Hah! See?" Yōhei grinned proudly at Saori.
"Good thing I insisted we come!"
He turned back to Taichi.
"Go clean yourself up. We're not training today—let's go relax. Balance between work and rest, that's the way!"
Taichi felt a warm surge in his chest.
They'd given up training just to help him clear his head.
"I'll be right back."
He disappeared into the inner room. Soon, the sound of running water echoed through the house.
Fifteen minutes later, Taichi emerged—still tired, but once again carrying his usual confidence.
"Let's go," he said with a grin.
"My treat today—barbecue!"
---
The streets of Konoha were as lively as ever.
The bustle of people pulled Taichi fully back into the world. He took a deep breath of fresh air, the lingering pressure in his chest finally dispersing.
"Oi, Taichi! What are you spacing out for?" Yōhei hooked an arm around his shoulder and pointed ahead.
"Look—new dango shop. Sweet food makes people happy!"
Saori, walking beside them, frowned slightly as she stared at a shop sign.
"…That's strange. Did rice prices change again? They weren't this high a few days ago."
Taichi followed her gaze.
"New rice—120 ryō per jin."
"…It was only 100 last time I bought some."
"And it's not just rice," Yōhei added, scanning nearby stalls.
"Oil, salt, sauces—everything's gone up."
The three of them instinctively thought of the 700 million ryō military budget brought back from the Daimyō.
Taichi lowered his voice.
"Looks like the village has already started large-scale procurement…"
Merchants were always the quickest to react. Even the slightest fluctuation in supply or demand never escaped their notice.
If prices were rising this sharply, it meant the village had stopped hiding it and begun stockpiling in earnest.
The streets remained lively, but the mood among the three grew heavier.
"…Does this mean another war?" Saori whispered.
"We've only had peace for a few years…"
Silence followed.
Then Yōhei clapped both of them on the back loudly.
"Hey! We came out to relax! We even skipped training for this! Why are we worrying about war?"
"That's the elders' problem. Today, we just enjoy ourselves!"
Taichi snapped out of it and laughed.
"You're right. If the sky falls, the Hokage will hold it up."
"Come on!" Taichi waved his hand.
"Today we eat everything. My treat!"
Saori smiled faintly.
"You said it. Don't complain if I eat a lot."
"Haha! Taichi's wallet is going to bleed today!" Yōhei cheered.
"Dango first, sweets next, barbecue for lunch!"
The three of them laughed their way down the street, eating and joking until noon.
Inside the barbecue restaurant, while waiting for the meat to finish grilling, Saori suddenly spoke.
"Honestly… I don't think you need to rush developing a new technique so much. You're already very strong."
"Yeah," Yōhei agreed, mouth full of meat.
"The two of us together couldn't beat you. You're practically jōnin-level already."
Taichi paused, chopsticks hovering.
Warmth flooded his chest again.
"…Thank you," he said softly.
"I'll keep developing it—but I won't obsess anymore."
"That's the spirit!" Yōhei raised his juice.
"To friendship—and to Taichi's successful ninjutsu!"
"Cheers!"
The three cups clinked together with a crisp sound.
Taichi took a sip, watching the juice ripple in the cup, and suddenly fell into thought.
"…By the way," he said slowly,
"what do you think the principle behind the Hōzuki Clan's Hydrification Technique is?"